Public Safety

Riki Bayers, 19, (back to camera) hugs her friend Rachael Hayward, 18.
Hayward said she was driving up N.M. 502 West toward Los Alamos, when the transmission and the brakes in her Dodge Caravan minivan simultaneously failed, leaving the distraught teen rolling backwards down the Main Hill. She said there was no choice but to use the canyon wall to stop her descent.

Due to an unexpected medical condition, Los Alamos Police Chief Wayne Torpy recently notified his staff that he will be out on an extended medical leave.

Torpy said he expects to make a full recovery, but doesn’t have a specific timeline.

“I’ve seen better days, but I expect to make a full recovery. Soon it will be full speed ahead again,” said they 54-year-old Torpy, who is recovering in an area hospital with his family by his side. “I’m still in limbo as to what the next steps are though. It’s going to be a while.”

Torpy has led the department since 2005 after having served as deputy chief of the Melbourne Police Department in Florida.

According to Los Alamos Police Department Deputy Chief Randy Foster, Albuquerque Police have made a break in a rash of car break-ins that occurred in Los Alamos throughout November. Foster saidLAPD detectives were in Albuquerque Monday afternoon to interview the suspects.

Arrested was Skylar B. Smith, 20, of Rio Rancho and a prior Los Alamos resident. He was arrested on a Los Alamos warrant for burglary and theft of credit cards. This comes after a lengthy investigation where Los Alamos detectives served a search warrant on a house in Placitas working with the Sandoval County Sheriff’s office last week.

During the execution of that search warrant, Sandoval County Sheriff’s Department arrested Coady Richards, 32, of Placitas, on the following charges: two counts of receiving stolen property and possession of marijuana.

A series of break-ins occurred within a three-block area of Oppenheimer Drive Nov. 20 and another rash of Nov. 15 break-ins occurred in the area of Camino Medio. The thieves’ usual method would be to hit a number of cars within an hour on a particular block, then fade away for a week or two. As many as five vehicles would sometimes be hit.

Police Beat items are compiled from public information contained in Los Alamos Police Department Records. Charges or citations listed in Police Beat do not imply innocence or guilt. The Los Alamos Police Department uses the term “arrest” to define anyone who has been physically arrested, served a court summons, or issued a citation.
Nov. 23

(No time given) A 16-year-old Los Alamos teen was released to his parents by police after getting into a fight with a 12-year-old in the 100 Block of Santolina.

1:56 p.m. — Joshua Krepps, 20 of Los Alamos was arrested on a charge of criminal trespass at Smith’s Food and Drug.

Police received six calls of car-breakins between 7:10 p.m. and 10 p.m. Locations included the 500 block of Oppenheimer Drive, 5000 block of Eaton Place, 900 block of Tewa Loop, 900 block of Otowi Place, 100 block of Timber Ridge Road and the 5000 block of Carriage House Road.

11:43 p.m. — Brock Koehler, 24, of Los Alamos was arrested on a charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, possession of marijuana (less than one ounce), and possession of drug paraphernalia in the 100 block of Longview Drive.

A young girl with leukemia and a heart catheter could die in a matter of days if she is not brought back to an Arizona hospital after her parents inexplicably took her out of the facility last week, authorities said Monday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade — and it could be a bad one.

Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly.

"It looks like it's shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The good news is that the nation seems fairly well prepared, Frieden said. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine formulated for this year is well-matched to the strains of the virus seen so far, CDC officials said.

Higher-than-normal reports of flu have come in from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick like this usually doesn't happen until after Christmas. Flu-related hospitalizations are also rising earlier than usual, and there have already been two deaths in children.

Fire officials said it all started when duplex owner Maria Mojica heard a “popping sound” downstairs.

“She went down to investigate and she saw smoke and flames coming from the side of the dishwasher,” said Los Alamos Fire Department Capt. Jason Lopez.

Los Alamos Fire Department crews were dispatched around 1 p.m. Friday to respond to a call in the 3000 block of Orange Street.

“We made entry into the house at about 1:12 p.m.,” said Battalion Chief Justin Cassel.

No one was hurt during the fire, though the kitchen sustained heavy fire damage. The entire house also received a lot of smoke damage.

“The whole house was full of smoke when we arrived and flames were rolling out of the kitchen by the time we made entry,” Lopez said.

Deputy Chief Justin Grider said the situation was under control by 1:20 p.m.

Grider said the heavy smoke affected two families and the homeowner was the one who made the 911 call. Mojica was outside the duplex when fire crews arrived on the scene, and no one was injured in the fire.

Police Beat items are compiled from public information contained in Los Alamos Police Department Records. Charges or citations listed in Police Beat do not imply innocence or guilt. The Los Alamos Police Department uses the term “arrest” to define anyone who has been physically arrested; served a court summons, or issued a citation.
Nov. 15

7:06 a.m. — A Los Alamos resident, 43, reported they were the victim of larceny of less than $250 in the 300 block of Rover Boulevard.

9:21 a.m. — A Los Alamos resident, 50, reported they were the victim of larceny of less than $250 in the 300 block of Shirlane Place.

9:29 a.m. — A Los Alamos resident, 70, reported they were the victim of a burglary from a vehicle or other structure in the 100 block of Kendall Drive.

12:52 p.m. — A Los Alamos resident, 47, reported they were the victim of a burglary from a vehicle or other structure in the 300 block of Valle Del Sol Road.

2:11 p.m. — A Los Alamos resident, 50, reported they were the victim of a burglary from a vehicle or other structure in the 300 block of Rover Boulevard.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has halted operations of the country's largest organic peanut butter processor, cracking down on salmonella poisoning for the first time with a new enforcement authority the agency gained in a 2011 food safety law.

The news came just hours after Sunland Inc. said it planned to reopen its shuttered processing plant on Tuesday.

FDA officials found salmonella all over Sunland's New Mexico plant after 41 people in 20 states, most of them children, were sickened by peanut butter manufactured at the plant and sold at Trader Joe's. The suspension will prevent the company from distributing any food.

The food safety law gave the FDA authority to suspend a company's registration when food manufactured or held there has a "reasonable probability" of causing serious health problems or death.

Sunland sold hundreds of products to many of the nation's largest grocery chains.